Mung Bean Coconut Milk Dessert with Agar & Banana Shiratama

🇯🇵日本語で読む

Chewy banana shiratama, cooked mung beans, and agar — all served with a light coconut milk and soy milk sauce.

A simple, healthy vegan mung bean dessert that comes together in minutes.

Jump to:

• 📷 About This Dessert Bowl
• 🧺 What Makes This Dessert Special
• 🫖 Ingredients
• 🥣 Instructions
• 📚 FAQ
• 📘 Tips & Ideas
• 🌱 Using Leftover Mung Beans
• 🚲 More Vegan Bean Recipes
• 🥥 Using Leftover Coconut Milk
• 📖 Recipe Card

📷 About This Dessert Bowl

This past summer was brutally hot. Instead of reaching for ice cream or cold drinks, I made this anmitsu-style dessert over and over — something cool enough to refresh, but not so cold it would upset my stomach.

Anmitsu (あんみつ) is a traditional Japanese dessert made with chewy shiratama mochi dumplings, agar jelly, red peas, fruit, and sometimes ice cream, all drizzled with kuromitsu — a dark sugar syrup.

This version keeps the agar but swaps the anko for simply cooked mung beans, the kuromitsu for a light coconut milk and soy milk sauce, and uses banana shiratama — made with ripe banana, with a soft yellow hue. Somewhere between Japanese and Southeast Asian in flavor, but kept simple and lightly sweetened to let the ingredients speak for themselves.

I usually prefer my anmitsu well chilled, but with this dessert I often serve it at room temperature. Chilling changes the texture of the shiratama and the mung beans, so I like it as-is. The agar adds a pleasant firmness, and the coconut milk sauce ties everything together.

Different textures in every bite — refreshing, comforting, and gentle on the body.

One of my favorite vegan summer desserts.

🧺 What Makes This Dessert Special

• Simple assembly: Once you have the components ready, it all comes together in minutes.
• Naturally low in sugar: The sweetness comes mostly from coconut milk, with just a touch of added sugar to taste.
• High in fiber: Mung beans, banana, and agar all contribute to the fiber content.
• Fully plant-based: No dairy, no eggs — perfect for a vegan and dairy-free diets.

🫖 Ingredients

● Cooked mung beans: Canned or home-cooked both work. I cook mine in a pressure cooker — they come out with a slight pop in every bite, similar to well-cooked brown rice. Here's how.

● Banana shiratama: Soft, chewy rice flour dumplings made with ripe banana. You can also use sliced fresh banana or plain shiratama instead — see the anmitsu page for plain shiratama instructions.

● Agar: I like a firmer set — 3g agar powder to 300ml water. See the anmitsu page for instructions.

● Coconut milk: I use Yuki Foods (about 17% fat content) in Japan. Combining it with soy milk makes a light coconut sauce. Coconut cream works too. Just add a little more soy milk to adjust the consistency and richness.

● Unsweetened soy milk: You can also use sweetened soy milk for a slightly sweeter sauce.

● Beet sugar: I recommend the powdered type — it's lighter in color and blends easily.

● Sugar: I use powdered beet sugar — it blends easily and keeps the sauce light in color. Any sugar works here.

For exact quantities, see the recipe card below 👇

🥣 Instructions

Once you have everything ready, putting this together takes just two steps.

📚 FAQ

📘 Tips & Ideas

▶ Shiratama variations: Plain shiratama works just as well without the banana. If you'd like to play with colors, try mixing in steamed kabocha, matcha, purple sweet potato, or beet powder.

▶ Adjusting agar firmness: The ratio of agar powder to water changes the texture. I like a firmer set (3g agar powder to 300ml water), but for a softer set, try 2g to 300ml.

🌱 Using Leftover Mung Beans

From desserts to soups, cooked mung beans are surprisingly versatile:

🚲 More Vegan Bean Recipes

Lentils, soybeans, adzuki, chickpeas and more — see the full list:

🥥 Using Leftover Coconut Milk

A few ideas for that half-open can:

📖 Recipe Card